M. Spencer Green/Associated PressNew Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez: "I'm coaching the same way I coached the last 20-some years. You've got to be yourself. ... I want players that want to prove themselves and want to be coached. Not enabled, but coached."

Chicago -- Everyone already had heard so much about the new guy, this was the new guy's chance to speak his piece. First-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez spent Thursday both clarifying his recent past and attempting to ignore it.

What about finally agreeing to pay the $4 million buyout to former employer West Virginia after a very public lawsuit that got very personal?

"I'll address it now so we don't have to address it for the next 13, 14 years," Rodriguez said. "I was disappointed in that maybe not all of the things that I thought were truthful had an opportunity to come out. ... But it's time to get it settled and move on."

Called a snake-oil salesman by Purdue coach Joe Tiller over a recruit?

Throw out a joke at the news conference podium, even if it landed with a bit of thud. ("I can't wait to see Joe, because I've been working on my new snake-oil concoction.")

But what of Justin Boren, former Wolverine and new Ohio State Buckeye? The lineman's program-rattling comment upon his departure about the erosion of family values at Michigan still sticks in the craw of Rodriguez.

"That's the one that upset me the most," Rodriguez said, "because that's what we take the most pride in."

So the 45-year-old in his 24th year of coaching spent his first day at the Big Ten kickoff restoring a reputation he believes should be as strong as ever.

"I've not changed who I am, I never have," Rodriguez said. "It just seems what was portrayed has changed and that was probably the most difficult part about it. I mean, what have I done wrong image-wise? Did I cause anybody to leave? Everyone wants to talk about a guy who leaves, not the 99 who stayed. Ask them what they think."

OK. What did the other Wolverines think about Boren's declaration?

"I shouldn't even be talking about that because it's a joke to me," said Michigan senior cornerback Morgan Trent. "It was so untrue and the person who said it, you just have to laugh at."

"I felt bad for Coach Rod to have to deal with it," said senior tight end Mike Massey, a St. Ignatius grad. "But for the players it was a non-issue. We didn't even talk about it."

But some other people in college football did.

"[Boren] was a legacy guy and when he makes comments like [that], that's like getting kicked square in the shorts when you're Rich Rodriguez," ESPN analyst and former OSU quarterback Kirk Herbstreit said Thursday. "With all the other things that are happening, when you get that comment from a legacy guy, a guy whose dad started three or four years for Bo, all of a sudden everybody's tentacles go up a little bit.

"But I'm a little concerned right now for Rich. There's a lot of negative things adding up. They need to start the season and win some games to get some positive stuff going, some mojo going, because it's not good right now."

Another kick came from the media's preseason top three conference teams, with the choices of Ohio State, Wisconsin and Illinois leaving out the Wolverines. In the previous 12 years tracked by the conference, that had never happened. Michigan had been picked first five times, second six times and third once.

"I think it's realistic," Rodriguez said. "Look who we lost. Is this the most difficult year? Sure it is, because it's the transition year."

But a discussion about replacing 13 starters is a welcome relief at this point. Better than a discussion about whether he and his coaches swear too much at practice.

"I think that's overrated," Rodriguez said. "I don't know where all that came from. When coaches are upset there's some salty language, but it's not like a tirade all the time. ... So I think that's just someone piling on."

Or more talk about running players off, though Bo Schembechler and Bear Bryant began their legends by shedding those who didn't fit their ways.

"Come on, it wasn't that many people," Rodriguez said. "There were a lot more people that left West Virginia eight years ago then there were this spring at Michigan, by far.

"I'm coaching the same way I coached the last 20-some years. You've got to be yourself. For some players that maybe aren't used to that or maybe are just looking for a reason to not buy into it, they get exposed. I want players that want to prove themselves and want to be coached. Not enabled, but coached."

Whether everything seems like it fits yet or not, he'll be coaching them at Michigan, trying to ignore (or change) what some people may be thinking.

"I think the perception of Michigan generally is outstanding," Rodriguez said, "and our job is to make the reality meet the perception."

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